


And Another One Bites the Dust

by headfirstfrhalos



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Crack, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Jenna's POV, Josh is a Hoe, Miscommunication, Multi, Open Relationships, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-12-07 00:23:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11612064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/headfirstfrhalos/pseuds/headfirstfrhalos
Summary: Jenna didn't care why she was pretending to date Tyler. She was getting paid to do it and that was all that mattered, or at least until some stupid part of her brain decided to get attached.





	And Another One Bites the Dust

**Author's Note:**

> i know only lile three (3) people like jenshler but here

Jenna laughs when she first hears Tyler Joseph’s proposition. It has nothing to do with the fact that his voice cracks when he asks or his awkward smile, it’s the nature of the question itself.

“Uh. Hi. Jenna. I’m Tyler, you’ve probably seen me around. I know you don’t– I know we’ve never really talked or anything, but could you do me a favor?”

“Depends on what it is.”

“Could you–” his voice cracks here– “could you be my fake girlfriend?”

She gives him a look. He’s smiling but she can tell he’s screaming on the inside from the way it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. Fake girlfriend? 

“Why?” she asks. “Before we discuss anything else, I just want to know why you’re doing this.”

Tyler blushes now, and he knits his fingers together. “Kind of a long story, but Josh– my boyfriend, you’ve probably seen him– he’s been spending a lot of time with other guys. And a few girls, I’m pretty sure. I mean, he’s kinda my boyfriend, but we’ve agreed that it’s okay to do other stuff with other people. But he’s the only one out of the two of us to actually go through with that and.”

He shrugs. “I need to get back at him somehow.”

She raises an eyebrow at him. “And talking to him about it won’t solve this?”

“It’s not really a huge problem, but I just need to prove a point.”

Consider her interest piqued. 

“What am I getting out of this?” she asks. This is interesting, but Tyler is sorely mistaken if he thinks she’s just going to drop everything and  _fake_  date him. 

“Uh, I’m in a band called Twenty One Pilots and we’re gonna start touring in a few days,” he says. “Nothing too big, just going around the tri-state area for a few months. We’re not that famous yet. Even if we are touring with Panic! at the Disco”

“Hmm.”

“There’ll be lots of sightseeing in the cities we visit. And you get me.”

He grins at her, trying to seem confident. It’s cute. His offer’s cute. But no.

“Sorry, Tyler Joseph,” she says, adjusting the straps of her bag and standing up. “But I’m just too busy for two-star hotels and Wal-Mart parking lots.”

His arm shoots out and he clutches at her arm before realizing that looks bad and letting it go.

“Please,” he begs. “You’re the most beautiful woman in this church. I’ll  _pay_  you if it makes you say yes.”

Now that’s a deal.

* * *

 

Josh tilts his head at Tyler when the three of them meet up to start the first leg of their tour.

“Hi,” Josh says to her before looking at Tyler. “Who’s this?”

“Jenna,” she and Tyler say at the same time. 

“This is my girlfriend,” Tyler said, putting his arm around her shoulders. For someone so skittish and awkward, he’s a surprisingly good actor when he needs to be. “I told you how I met someone and that she wanted to come with us on tour.”

“Oh, right,” Josh says. He holds out a hand to Jenna and she shakes it. His hands are warm and the tops of his palms are slightly calloused from playing the drums. “It’s nice to meet you, Jenna.”

“The same to you,” she says, and Josh flashes her a grin that shines like the sun.

Josh then turns to help some stage techs load a drum kit into the back of a van, sunny and entirely unperturbed by her sudden arrival. It’s worlds away from the possessiveness of most other relationships she’s seen and been a part of (well, except for Tyler) that she almost has to shake her head in disbelief at the sight.

“So what’s your impression on Josh?” Tyler asks. They went into the tour bus early, and Jenna’s getting comfortable on the overstuffed sofa set inside as the rest of the crew and Josh finishes up. Tyler is sitting in front of an open mini-fridge, loading it with energy drinks and a few other perishables.

Jenna shrugs. “He seems sweet. Really open.”

Tyler sighs now and glances out the open door at Josh, who’s laughing as one of the crew members hoists him over his shoulder and pretends to load him into one of the vans. “I know.”

“Is fake-dating me really gonna help you have him all to yourself?”

“I mean, I’ve done everything else. Maybe this is the one that’ll work. Red Bull?”

* * *

 

They’re not half bad. They really aren’t. Jenna spends a few days listening to their shows from the wings, and they’ve got more potential than they know. 

After shows, she and Tyler will pass the time talking to other performers and stage engineers, as well as a few fans. If Josh is nearby, Jenna sticks her hands in Tyler’s pockets and kisses him and doesn’t tell him that she’s only pretending to date his boyfriend because Tyler was a big baby.

Tyler’s jealousy aside, he and Josh seem to have a pretty good thing going on. They get each other’s jokes and they kiss grossly and for terrifyingly long times. A small part of her is envious. All her last boyfriend did was send her dick pics at three in the morning, and her girlfriend before that moved to Oregon after knowing her for a month.

Eventually Josh goes off on his own to where the other bands are hanging out, his shock of blue hair not so shocking amongst the other eccentric performers. Meanwhile, she and Tyler sit underneath a tent, sipping cans of Coke and watching everyone else hustle and bustle.

“There he is,” Tyler says, pointing at a black-haired man with his arm around Josh’s waist, talking to a very tall man with a bass.

“That’s the guy?” she asks, pulling down her sunglasses for a better look. She recognizes both men.

“Yup.”

He takes a sip from his can, and Jenna watches as Brendon dips Josh, promptly dropping him. Dallon helps Josh up and chastises Brendon. She snorts.

“Can’t he do better than that guy?”

Tyler shrugs. “Brendon’s a nice guy. Same with Dallon. They  _are_  better.”  

* * *

 

She thought Tyler just had low self-esteem when he said that. But she understands what he means when they finally get a hotel night.

She can’t sleep. She just can’t. She’s laying in the same bed as Tyler for appearance’s sake, though it wasn’t really necessary since Josh had stuttered a transparent excuse about a card game in Brendon’s room and left a while ago. Now she could hear the unmistakable sound of Josh having a very good time. Headboard. Headboard. A slap, and then a moan, and then more headboard. Headboard. Headboard.

“I don’t think they’re playing Go Fish,” Jenna says into the darkness.

“Me neither,” Tyler says. He rolls over and gives her some of the blanket he had inadvertently stolen over the last few minutes of tossing and turning. The parts that had been covering him were nice and warm.

“How many rooms away is Brendon’s, anyways?”

Tyler thinks for a minute. “Two doors down,” he says.

“Wow.”

Tyler turns to look at her, eyes reflecting the little light that seeped in past the curtains.

“Wanna get back at ‘em?” he asks, a dirty smirk growing on his face.

Agreeing to only act like partners for show, and then asking for sex? Not cool, Joseph. She recoils and snarls a ‘no’.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding, I’m sorry, that was gross.”

The grin had fallen off his face and his arms were between their bodies like he was reaching out for her again.

“Are you saying sorry because you really were joking, or because you weren’t and you just don’t want to be held accountable for it?”

“It’s the first one, I promise,” Tyler says, running his hands down his face and sighing. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay. Just don’t be a fuckboy like my last boyfriend and we’ll be fine.”

Tyler giggles, he  _giggles_ , and he says, “It’s funny hearing you curse. I’ve never heard you do it.”

“That’s because you’ve never seen me outside of church.”

“Well, now I have.”

Tyler pauses for a minute, and then frowns. “What about your last boyfriend?” he asks. 

“Eh, he was just a jerk. Typical gross frat boy.”

“Couldn’t you have done better?” Tyler asks, mirroring her old words. 

Jenna shrugs. “Probably, yeah.”

“At least you know what you want now.”

That was true.

* * *

 

Josh is limping the next morning when they meet in the hotel’s dining room for breakfast the next morning. He didn’t come back to their room that night, which was probably for the best because Jenna farted in her sleep sometime at around three and Tyler had to step out into the hall for a good five minutes. Stupid Taco Bell. 

“Sorry, for ditching you guys,” he says, wincing as he sits down at their table. “I fell asleep in there.”

“Have fun with your card game?” Jenna asks, eyeing the many purpled hickies that streaked across his neck. He didn’t even try hiding them. She glances at Tyler, sitting next to her and across from Josh, and she sees how his knuckles get the tiniest bit whiter around the handles of the coffee mugs he was about to go and fill.

“Yeah, Josh,” Tyler says. “What’d you play? Strip poker?”

Josh flushes. “Hopefully it wasn’t too loud.”

“I’m gonna get us coffee,” Tyler says suddenly, excusing himself and leaving Jenna with Josh. Josh’s eyes follow Tyler as he leaves, and then dart to Jenna once he’s out of sight.

“How’s your morning been going?” Josh asks. “This is your first time on the road, right?”

“Tired,” Jenna says. “And yeah, it is. I’m not used to sleeping in different places every night.”

“It is pretty strange at first. But you’ll get used to it. Especially if Tyler’s there. How do you feel about this whole arrangement, by the way?”

”It’s unique,” she says. “I’ve never seen or been in anything like this, but it’s really not bad. It involves a lot of trust, I realize.”

Josh nods. “It does. I think it’s a lot more fun, though”

He stops talking and his eyes leave hers. Jenna follows his eyes and sees that Brendon and his other buddies have arrived. Brendon winks and points a pair of finger-guns at Josh with the most obvious ‘I-just-got-laid’ face possible. He makes his way to the coffee dispensers, where an oblivious Tyler is mixing sugar into a mug, and smacks Tyler’s sweatpants-clad behind. He yelps and clutches his ass, the coffee stirrer falling out of the mug and landing on the counter. Tyler sends Brendon a death glare, who only gives him an innocent ‘good morning’ before heading for the food.

“You’ve been sleeping with- sleeping  _next_  to him,” Josh says, clearing his throat. “You have any idea what’s gotten into him?”

Jenna knows the answer, but her bank account and her strange new friendship with Tyler is not worth sacrificing. “No,” she says. “ _Has_ something gotten into him?”

“Yeah,” Josh says, propping his head up in his hands. He hasn’t shaved and there are bags under his eyes, but he still manages to be quite attractive. “I think he’s jealous or something. He’s like that a lot.”

“Right,“ she says. “I didn’t think he would be the type, since you guys have that whole open relationship thing.”

“He’s a living contradiction. How long have you known him?”

Should she lie?

“A few weeks,” Jenna decides to say. Josh seems surprised.

“Huh,” he says, sitting up straight. “I’m surprised he fell for you that fast.”

Then he frowned. “Or maybe not. It took me a few weeks too.”

“Few and far between?”

A smile grew on his face. “Yeah, something like that.”

Tyler comes back with a small metal cart, laden with food and coffee.

“Got you guys breakfast,” he says. “I didn’t want to interrupt your guys’ conversation.”

He gives Josh a very pointed smile as he hands him a plate of scrambled eggs and extra sausage links, and Jenna has to scald her tongue with black coffee to keep herself from laughing.

* * *

 

Jenna’s pretty sure Josh knows. It’s the only way she can explain the flirting. Josh does it whenever Tyler’s not looking, probably because Tyler would spontaneously combust if he saw that his plan was falling apart in the worst possible way.

They were currently cuddling on the sofa on the tour bus. Horizontally, which was one step above upright cuddling, and a bit more uncomfortable because there wasn’t enough room on the couch for two, unless one of them lay on top of the other and that was several steps above upright cuddling. Josh was warm and soft and cute but she was not going to risk that.

Then Josh starts pouting about his arm falling asleep, and okay, yeah, it was one hundred percent okay. 

“ _Jenna_ ,” he whines, and starts shifting the arm he’s laying on around. “My arm.”

“Okay, okay,” she sighs, and the readjust themselves so that Jenna’s on top of him, Josh wrapping his arms around her. Her face is buried in his neck now, and she can faintly smell not only Josh, but several other people, including a scent that she now recognized as Tyler’s.

“Is it fun?” she asks, poking one of his ever-present hickies. 

“A lot,” Josh nods. “Do you and Tyler ever–”

He wiggles a bit beneath her.

“No,” she says. “I don’t think he’s ready for it.”

Josh laughs. “He’s always ready, it’s like, half the reason why we picked each other.”

“Huh. Maybe I’m just special,” Jenna says. “Saving the best for last or something.”

“Sure.”

“Jealous?” she asks, leaning back to look him in the eye.

Josh squirms a bit, eyes dark.

“I don’t believe in that. Do you?”

* * *

 

Josh has a lot of boyfriends. A lot. Most of them are other musicians on tour with them, but Jenna has no idea where he met John. Or Rakim. Or Judah.

“I feel like if I go through the contacts on his phone, ninety percent of his numbers are gonna be his hookups,” Jenna says, trying to ignore how nice Tyler’s lips look after he’s been kissed for a long time.

Their attempts at getting Josh to notice Tyler had failed yet again, and he was currently holed up in a venue bathroom with John, whom Jenna heavily suspects is Josh’s sugar daddy. Seriously, he’s twice his age and rich as  _fuuuuck_. Now they’re just sitting there on a picnic bench outside the bathrooms, sitting awkwardly like a couple of idiots, suspecting that they were catching a deadly case of feelings.

“It is,” Tyler says, running a hand through his hair and mussing it. “I’ve seen it. It’s honestly pretty impressive.”

Jenna straightens out her shirt. Tyler’s hand had started creeping up past the hem when Josh was there, and if she was going to be entirely honest, it wasn’t entirely unwelcome. Normally, living with someone you don’t already like would make you hate them in a couple of weeks, but that just didn’t seem to be the case with Tyler. She should be grateful, but she was too confused to be.

“Do you think your plan is working?” Jenna asks. “It’s been, what, a month now? Have we made any progress?”

Tyler sighs and looks down. “I don’t know. It’s juvenile, I know. We– we just have to see it through.”

That was the most thinly-veiled excuse Jenna has ever seen, but she wasn’t angry, because that would be the exact same thing she would have said, too.

“Maybe we should kick it up a notch,” Jenna says, not believing what she’s saying. “I mean, when was the last time you had sex with him?”

“Two weeks ago. But that’s like a year in Josh-time. Also, are you implying what I think you are?”

”Yeah.”

Tyler’s frowning, but he’s fidgeting in his seat and hopefully it’s for the same reasons why Jenna is. She never told Tyler what happened with her and Josh, and maybe that’s for the best. She doesn’t know if she can be  _fired_  or anything, but some secrets are just better off kept.

“You’re okay with that?” he asks.

“I wouldn’t have suggested it otherwise. We’ve known each other long enough.”

“Nothing personal, right?”

He’s nervous, she can tell, and she doesn’t know whether to assure or fuck it out of him. So she’s just gonna do both.

“Nope.”

* * *

 

“So does this change anything?” Jenna asks.

Tyler shrugs, still underneath her.

* * *

 

Josh definitely knows. They’ve reached the third and final leg of their tour and they’re headed home in a few days. Jenna has been added to Josh’s list of shame, but if she’s going to be completely honest with herself, she doesn’t mind. Josh is kind. Josh is attractive. Josh listens, and Josh talks. 

Which is why she is currently attached to Josh’s mouth when Tyler comes back to the bus early.

“Uh.”

He stares at Jenna, then at Josh, and then back to Jenna again. Jenna looks at Josh. Josh looks at Jenna and then looks at Tyler. 

Uh indeed.

“I can explain,” Jenna begins, but then Tyler starts laughing.

“You don’t– you don’t need to,” he says, walking over to the sofa she and Josh are currently sprawled on top of and sitting down by their feet. “I was actually expecting this to happen at some point.”

“Oh.”

“How long?” Tyler asks.

“A few weeks,” Josh answers.

Tyler hums and nods. “Figured.”

“Am I fired?” Jenna asks.

Josh looks at her funny. So he  _didn’t_ know?

“Don’t say it like that,” Tyler says. “I mean. You could leave any time you like. Do you want to?”

Jenna thinks about it. They’re both great. Touring is actually pretty fun and so is seeing them. Even without the money, she’d be happy to stay.

“I want to,” Jenna says. “Does this make things official?”

Tyler and Josh look at each other. Tyler shrugs.

“Sure,” Tyler says.

“Nice.”

“Okay, this is great and all,” Josh says, sitting up. “But Jenna, what exactly did you mean by ‘fired’?”

She has a lot of explaining to do


End file.
